Welcome to Gaia! ::

The wind picked up slightly at the fields surrounding Fort Ratatosk. This caused John's black and red cloak to sway in the wind. He stood there, his emerald eyes scanning the fields, looking for someone as he ran through a checklist in his mind.

He was packing three weapons on his person; his Death Whisper, which could be practically any weapon he needed. His Ancient Katana, whose blade was sharper than any other sword in his possession, and lastly, he had a simple kunai. That weapon would more than likely be used for some sort of ranged attack.

From there, he ran through the jutsus that he could remember easily; he picked a few that would be good for the fight now and saved some for in case things got... tricky. Keeping his attention outward, he waited for his opponent to arrive...

John nodded and bowed. "At last, indeed. My name is John, leader of this clan. I am honored that a mage of your caliber has decided to join us." he said respectfully.


Rising up from his bow, his emerald eyes were already sizing her up. As he had stated before and judging by her choice of entrance, she was proficient in the arcane arts, much like Ally. If that were true, then it would also be true that her tactics would involve keeping him outside of a certain radius so that she could pepper him with spells. Closing the distance would be key to an easy victory.

However...

Upon closer inspection, John noticed the sword at her hip. If he wasn't mistaken, that was a blade of Omega. Its craftsmanship was not on par with Chris's rapier, but its blade was still on par with any of his weapons. If she would carry such a sword, then her swordplay probably was not terrible.

This would be a tricky fight.

Ah, great. Mind reader. That's swell.

"Well, I can see that you're rather antsy to start, so why don't you start us off, m'lady?" he asked, reaching for his hip and drawing his katana. He spread his feet slightly and raised his sword, pointing the tip at her.

John scowled a little bit at that. She might as well be a mind-reader, anyway. Stopping for a moment, he realized what he was doing: he was giving a spellcaster time to get a spell going by taking the first move. Not the best idea.

Quickly sheathing his katana, John began making hand seals. The speed at which he made him was not overly impressive, but it was a simple technique; one that could save him if she did the right spell or attack...

"Uh-oh!"

John finished his hand seals and side-stepped to his right, trying to avoid the binding shadows. Whether it was luck or intent, one shadow made contact with him. However, as soon as it did, a cloud of smoke covered John. When it disappeared, there was only a log left, which fell to the grass with a soft thud.

The jutsu John had prepared was a Replacement Technique, used by ninjas as distractions to get out of bad situations. It was then that his first attack came.

Reappearing about three meters closer to Emma, John quickly formed the handseals for Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu. Setting two fingertips to his lips, he blew and sent a flurry of small fireballs at the spellcaster, aiming for her torso.

He grimaced as his attack sailed harmlessly by her. For a mage, she was surprisingly agile. He saw her dodge and followed her with his eyes, but she seemed focused on his attack that had missed. Looking back, he saw her vying for control of his own fireballs! Not wanting to get into a mental battle so quickly, John allowed her control of the small fireballs; he had bigger fish to fry.

Trying to close the distance, he rushed her head-on. Drawing his katana, he made a swipe at her torso with his blade.

This wasn't good. She was somehow condensing his fireballs into rays of light attacks. How was he supposed to stop that!?

Backpedaling, John reached into the sleeve of his cloak and pulled out the Death Whisper. Filling it with some of his energy, he had it change into the Shadow Fist form. It wasn't great protection, but he had an idea.

Lowering his shield, John surmised that yes, he was surrounded and yes, getting hit by orbs of light probably wouldn't be a good thing.

Putting away the Shadow Fist, he quickly made hand seals for Doton: Dochu Eigyo no Jutsu. Once his jutsu was complete, he sank into the ground as if it were made of water.